Ideas

Online businesses have completely disrupted the way people make passive income over the last two decades, becoming a realistic means of commerce and revenue today. Not only has the online business niche taken over, but the variety of models used to generate recurring revenue and grow traffic to a site has increased as well.

Some online businesses are set up as a store and built around selling a product, while other online businesses can make money simply through posts, clicks, and affiliations. The internet has truly changed the way we look at making money remotely.

Making money online is a realistic way to earn a passive income, and you have a variety of models to choose from. However, some of those will be slow, require more effort and resources, and take expertise to be successful.

Despite this, building an online business is much easier than creating a brick and mortar store. The capital costs are significantly lower, working remotely allows for more flexibility, the barriers to start online are far less, and depending on which model you choose the the return on investment can be very high (depending on the time and effort put in).

But what are the models that exist and which one is going to make you the most money?

Below, we will discuss each online business model in detail and explain the pros and cons of each. At the conclusion of this article, you should leave with an understanding of the best models and business ideas that will work for you. Here is an interesting quiz created by Chris at BigHappyProfits to help you understand which business model is right for you.

1. AdSense or Other Display Ads

What are display ads?

Display ads are seen on almost all websites. Display ads are ad units that you place on your website as a way of monetizing visits and clicks. You will usually see ads at the top or side of a sites page, however they can also show up as videos or pop-ups.

AdSense and ad networks – How does it all work?

Display ads that are placed on your website will generate revenue when a user visits your website and clicks the advertisement. There are various display advertising avenues you can choose from. The display ad you choose may depend on the ad space available on your webpage, the niche of your site, or the host of your website.

AdSense, which is owned and managed by Google, is one of the most popular ad networks to choose from when considering display ads. You control where the ad is displayed on your website, and Google handles the rest. As AdSense is a Google program, you have to sign up for the AdSense program to receive the HTML code to paste onto your website (this code allows the ad to be displayed on your site).

Once the code is applied to your website, Google does all the work and keeps track of page visits and ad clicks. You can view all of these analytics through a Google AdSense account. AdSense will add your revenue to your AdSense account, where it will need to meet a minimum requirement of $100 for you to receive a cheque from Google.

If you want to find out more on how to set up AdSense, including a step-by-step process,check out the Google AdSenseGet Started page.

If your site is set up using a free WordPress account, you will have to use WordAds, a display ad program for free WordPress users. You have to have a WordPress account to sign up for WordAds and add it to your site. WordAds will share a portion of the earnings with you, while WordPress keeps a portion for themselves.

WordAds’ earnings are calculated by impressions only. This means that you earn a portion of the revenue when a user visits your website, rather than clicks on a link. WordAds are paid on a monthly basis when your balance is greater than $100.

Depending on the niche of your site, there are a host of niche-specific ad networks available for site owners to earn revenue through. Most of them work in a similar fashion to Adsense and WordAds – you simply set up a code on your site and the network keeps track of all the analytics for you, paying you out monthly based on a certain threshold.

How much money can I make?

Display ads can turn a substantial amount of impressions and clicks to money in your pocket, but it doesn’t happen immediately or even overnight. Especially if you have a new website that has yet to attract a large number of daily visitors. For this reason, generating substantial passive income with AdSense can be slow. However, there are ways to speed up the process.

You will need to make sure that traffic is directed to your website so that you can get as many impressions, visitors, and page clicks as possible. The more impressions and clicks, the more AdSense will pay.

Alternatively, you can purchase a website with AdSense ads that has already begun to generate traffic. We’ll touch more on this below.

Monetizing your blog or website with Google AdSense on a site that is new and has just begun to create a following will only make around $100 monthly. And remember, you need to meet the minimum threshold of $100 for Google to send you a cheque. This means that it may take months to receive your first payment depending on the quantity and quality of traffic to your site.

Websites with moderate followings and high volume traffic will likely make between $500 and $1,000 each month, if not more.

If you’re one of the lucky ones who has created an online empire and attracts millions of visitors each month, you can create a substantial income with Google AdSense and display ads. These websites can generate tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue per month.

Examples of websites that use display ads

The low-end potential for income by using display ads will be websites like personal blogs, niche websites, and topic-specific websites. These are websites that tally a few hundred visitors each month because of the specificity of the website.

The high-end potential for income by using display ads are websites like Daily Mail and eHow. These websites cover a variety of topics and have millions of daily page views.

Where can you buy these websites and how can you increase traffic to your website?

Display ads are only successful if there are visitors on your website to click the ads. This means you need people visiting your site. As we mentioned above, you can purchase websites that are already set up with display ads and have an established following. If you already have a site, then you will need to focus on getting more traffic to your site, which is best done by focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and various link building strategies like this one.

If you’re in the market to purchase a site, online vendors like Flippa, MotionInvest, EmpireFlippers, and FE International are constantly selling websites that specialize in monetization through display ads. You can search the many websites they have listed to find what works for you. These websites can be niche-specific, such as a website dedicated to recipes and cooking, or they can cover a broad range of topics, such as a website dedicated to reviewing various products.

If you have created your own website and need to increase the web traffic so that you can maximize the earnings of your display ads, you need to create content that will attract visitors and rank on the search engine results page through SEO.

SEO means creating content on your website through posts or landing pages that include keywords (long-tail and short-tail keywords) for the search engine to “read” and rank your website on the first page of the results.

Pros:

Easy to Use: Display ads are very user-friendly with the idea that you need to spend less time creating ads and more time creating content to bring visitors (and keep visitors) on your website.

Free: With a Google or WordPress account, you can use AdSense or WordAds on your website or blog for free.

Good income potential: If you have a site with high traffic volume, all you have to do is sit back and watch the revenue roll in.

Analytics: You have the ability to view how well your display ads are doing by examining the analytics. You can see how many average impressions and clicks are calculated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This allows you to make necessary adjustments as needed to maximize the monetization of the display ads.

Cons:

Revenue Threshold: AdSense, WordAds and most other ad networks require you to reach a certain threshold before you can receive your money. Because monetization from display ads can be a slow process, it may take months to reach that threshold, especially if your website is in its infancy.

Low & Slow: Piggybacking on the idea above, the amount of revenue you receive in the beginning is not likely to provide a full-time passive income. This doesn’t mean that the potential isn’t there. It is just a slow process with low levels of income in the beginning.

Who is this model right for?

Display ads (AdSense, WordAds) are best for websites and blogs that offer interesting content that will attract a large number of visitors each day. These can be niche websites, content-specific websites, or general blogs/sites that may have a little something for everyone.

2. Amazon Associate

What is the Amazon Associate program?

The Amazon associate program is also known as the Amazon affiliate program. When you post an Amazon link to a product, you can receive up to 10% in advertising fees when that product is purchased.

How does the Amazon Associate program work?

When you sign up to be an Amazon associate, you have access to the many products that are sold on Amazon. Amazon will have a specific link that you will need to share on your website or blog. When a user clicks the link and makes a purchase, you receive a percentage in advertising fees.

How much money can you make as an Amazon Associate?

Your earnings depend on the product you have linked to sell. The maximum earning is 10% of the advertising price. You do not receive any earnings from gift cards, subscription products, alcoholic beverages, food preparations, or Prime wardrobe services.

To explain how it works, let’s use an example. Let’s say you have a niche-specific website that specializes in video games. As an Amazon associate, you can list products related to video games, such as video games and consoles themselves, or video game accessories, like gaming headsets and gaming chairs.

In this niche, the fee you would receive from Amazon for selling video games and video game consoles is only 1%. Video game accessories will likely receive the fee related to the product category (i.e. furniture is 8% and headphones are 6%).

This niche is specific to a certain audience and therefore you’ll have to target those types of people to increase your affiliate sales. Due to this niche being so specific and it’s affiliate marketing fees being low, the video game niche may fall on the low-end for potential income.

On the other hand, a website related to an online marketplace with a higher demand or a website that has a little bit of everything to offer visitors has the potential to make a larger amount of money.

Here is the Amazon fee schedule at a glimpse:

As you can see, the largest fee is for luxury beauty and Amazon coins, and the schedule tiers down from there.

Once you have created an account and developed (or purchased) a website, you are ready to link products and earn money.

Where can you buy this type of business?

In addition to Flippa, you can also purchase Amazon affiliate websites at MotionInvest, EmpireFlippers, and FE International. These types of vendors allow you to search for sites, view their total monthly revenue, and offer a variety of different niches to choose from. There are many different sites to choose from, so it is important to keep in mind that the niche you choose may have an impact on your overall potential income.

Pros:

Free to start: There’s no fee to get started as an Amazon Associate. Just build your site, set up an account through Amazon, and get your links.

Lots of products to choose from: Amazon is one of the largest online vendors and affiliate marketing programs in the world, so no matter what your niche is, you can probably find products related to it on Amazon.

Reliable: Amazon is one of the largest ecommerce platforms in the world so there’s no need to worry about affiliate payments being made on time or links not working.

Customizable ads: Banner, text, text and image, and social media sharing are all available through the Amazon Associate program.

Cons:

Affiliate links: Users must click the link you provide and make a purchase for you to get credit.

Reliant on traffic: Because the program is based on affiliate links, your revenue is tied to not only the amount of traffic you get to your site, but also the quality of the traffic.

Low rates: While 10% is the most you can earn on specific items, the average rate for most Amazon Associates is between 2% and 6%.

Who is the Amazon Associate model right for?

The Amazon Associate program is best for bloggers and website owners that focus on a specific niche. When a visitor arrives to your site, they are likely interested in what your website is centered around. For example, if you have a website that is all about camping, you will attract visitors to your website who are interested in camping gear, equipment, and information. Linking an Amazon product related to your website will increase the chances that the product is purchased.

3. Affiliate Programs

What is an affiliate program?

An affiliate marketing program is a reward (usually in the form of revenue) that you earn from the business you are marketing. Rewards will vary between businesses.

How does an affiliate program work?

The stipulations will vary between businesses, but the concept is the same. When a user purchases a product from an affiliate link you provided, you will receive a reward. As the reward will vary between businesses, you will need to familiarize yourself with the incentives that are offered from each business.

Each business will also offer a specific cookie duration with their affiliate links. When a user clicks the link you have provided, they have enabled a cookie on their browser. This cookie remains active for a period of time that the affiliate marketing program has allowed.

For example, if a user clicks the link and does not make the purchase immediately, but returns to buy the product at a later time, you will still receive the reward as long as the cookie duration has not ended. You will need to know the cookie duration for the affiliate program you are interested in.

What are some of the best affiliate programs?

There is an affiliate marketing program for every area of business. Shopping, traveling, sporting equipment, and web-building. Below are some examples of affiliate programs for all of these areas.

Wix– The website builder for over 109 million users. Earn $100 per each sale with unlimited referrals.

How much money can you make as an affiliate?

As you have seen in the section above, it depends on the business and its incentives. Some businesses offer larger commissions and rewards than others. For example, with TripAdvisor, you can earn 50% commission, whereas Dick’s Sporting Goods only offers a 5% commission. The more traffic you have on your website, the greater the opportunity you have to maximize your earnings.

However, you don’t have to limit yourself to just one affiliate program to link on your website. To maximize your earnings, you will want one website that will link to many different affiliate programs.

For example, a website dedicated to all things good might offer recipes and cooking tips for people to browse through. A site like this could use affiliate links to various cooking products and kitchenware in order to generate recurring revenue. The only problem is that it can take time to go business-to-business asking to become an affiliate or searching a site to find the appropriate affiliate program information. This is where affiliate programs like ClickBank come into play. ClickBank is a website dedicated to affiliate marketing websites and affiliate programs. In the ClickBank Marketplace, simply choose the category of your website and select which affiliates you want to feature on your website.

With a website that promotes many different affiliates, you can easily earn $300/day, and it will likely grow. This is the moderate to high-end potential for income, and the more traffic you generate to your website, the more this number will grow.

Where can you buy an affiliate website?

Websites like Flippa, MotionInvest, and FE International are great places to search for websites that are available to purchase immediately. Once purchased, you can take the website that has already been created and add additional affiliate links so that you can maximize your earnings.

Pros:

Free and easy to use: Affiliate programs are free to use and generally pretty easy to set up and get a link from. Affiliate programs are a great starting point for beginners.

Grab a link and go: Links are created by the business making it easy for you to just copy and paste to your website or blog.

Flexibility: Links may also be shared via social media for additional marketing.

High rates: Earnings will vary anywhere from 5% to 200% depending on the affiliate program.

High potential: One website can include many different affiliate links, maximizing your potential earnings.

Cons:

Cookie limits: Rewards are only issued through cookies. If the cookie expires, you are not rewarded.

Reliant on traffic: Affiliate programs, like most, rely on the quality of your traffic being good. If you’re just starting out as a new website, it can take some time to grow your traffic volume.

Who are affiliate programs right for?

Anyone who has a website or blog can benefit from an affiliate program. Links are created by the affiliate program for easy copy-and-pasting to your website or blog. If you’re a beginner or just getting started with a new site or blog, setting up some affiliate links is an easy way to start generating revenue and dip your toes into the online business game.

4. Lead Gen Sites

What are lead gen sites?

Lead gen is short for lead generation. Lead gen sites are websites that find quality leads for a specific business. These leads will need to have the potential and meet certain criteria in order to be acceptable. Businesses will want quality leads that they will likely be able to turn into a customer.

How do lead gen sites work?

A lead gen website will have a call-to-action (CTA) link that will ask users to provide their information when they click it. The CTA will obtain the user’s information and provide it to the business. The business will then take the lead and attempt to turn it into a new customer.

How do you make money with a lead gen site?

The company will need to purchase the leads from you in order for you to make money. Otherwise, you are gaining information on customers for no real reason. You may set up a website that is already linked to a business that will purchase your leads from you, or you may need to obtain leads in the hopes of finding a business that will buy them. Either way, the concept is the same. The business will have to buy the leads.

What are some examples of lead gen sites?

To give you an idea of what a lead gen site is and how it looks like, here are examples of some of the top performing lead gen sites:

What are some examples of generating leads?

As we mentioned above, you should include a call-to-action (CTA) on your website that will ask users to give their information (name, email address, phone number), so it is important to know how to ask for this information.

1. Subscribe/Email Updates: Asking users to provide their information so that they can be the first to receive the latest information on the product or service you are providing will increase the chances that a user provides their information.

2. Free Trials: If the business is selling a product or service, you can obtain information from leads by giving them a free trial if they provide you with their information.

3. Social Media Ads: Integrating your website with a social media call-to-action ad can increase the number of leads you generate.

4. Coupon/Promo/Discount Offer: Create a pop-up call-to-action that will offer the visitor a coupon, discount, or promotional code if they provide you with their information.

How much money can lead gen sites make?

The amount of money you can make from lead generation depends on how much you sell the leads for. Leads can be sold for anywhere between $5 and $50 each. The more leads you sell, the more money you will make.

Pros:

High potential: The potential to make large amounts of money is very high with a lead gen site, however requires a lot of work on the backend.

Multiple paths to success: There are various ways to obtain lead information

High demand: Many businesses’ sole purpose is to buy leads in order to generate recurring revenue, so the demand for in this niche is high.

Cons:

Effort and expertise required: Some businesses may require you to have a phone conversation with the lead prior to purchasing leads from you.

Inconsistent revenue: Income may be inconsistent ($5 per lead from one business up to $50 per lead from another business). Many businesses will use lead gen tools once or twice and then stop, so this model is reliant on a high churn rate.

High quality leads: Because businesses are purchasing something from you, you’ll have to make sure that the leads you’re selling are high quality, otherwise your business will suffer.

Where can you buy a lead gen site?

If you want to purchase a lead gen site that is specifically designed with a niche or market in mind, you can find what you’re looking for on websites such as Sir Links a Lot. Websites like Sir Links a Lot will create a lead gen website that’s SEO optimized, has a unique layout, and a personalized logo.

5. Apps

What are apps and how are they related to online business models?

The world is ruled by smartphones, and businesses know this. That is why they have begun taking advantage of the convenience of smartphones by building and providing apps. Apps, short for applications, are programs that can be downloaded to electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and PC notebooks.

When a user downloads your app, they have access to content that you have provided. You decide what content the user can view and how much control the user has within the app.

How do apps make money?

Apps make money in a variety of ways.

1.In-app advertising. Your app makes money by running ads. Your app is free for users to download, but ads will run as it is used.

2.Paid app. Your app is only available to download if users pay for it.

3.In-app purchases. Your app is free, but there are purchases within the app that the user can make.

4.Premium content. You offer both a free version and a premium version for users to download. The free version is free for users but does not include some of the added content and features that the premium (paid) version offers.

How much money can apps make?

The possibilities are endless, so it is hard to nail down an exact figure you can expect to make from an app.

Is your app only available on Apple or Android devices? Will you offer a free app with advertisements? Will your app make money through paid downloads? Will you offer purchases for users to make within the app? Will there be free and premium versions for users to download?

All of these play a key role in determining just how much money your app can make. If you offer a free app that does not run advertisements or offer in-app purchases, your app will not make money. You will need to create an app that can generate recurring revenue based on paid content or advertisements that users will download from your app.

For example, Candy Crush makes $800,000 per day through in-app purchases. This can be by purchasing an ad-free version or downloading advertisements within the app.

While your app may not make $800,000 per day, you can earn a few hundred or even thousand dollars per month if your app has a lot of downloads and users. Similar to the affiliate model, an app relies heavily on traffic and users.

Pros:

Low maintenance: Create your app, set parameters for how it will earn money, and sit back and watch the revenue come in.

High potential: Most people have smartphones, tablets, or smart TVs, which they can download and access at the click (or tap) of a button. The potential for downloads and success for an app is very high.

Creativity: There’s no limits on what you can create with your app!

Cons:

Requires expertise: Developing an app requires a highly skilled developer in order to create it from scratch. This can be outsourced but will cost you money and you may have to sacrifice quality.

Money = downloads: The amount of revenue you generate is directly tied to how many downloads and users you have, so ensuring you have a popular app is important.

Competition: With the amount of apps available in today’s app store’s, creating the next big app is not an easy thing to do.

Where can I buy apps?

If you want to purchase already-made apps, use a website like Flippa. Flippa allows you to look through thousands of apps that are for sale. On the flip side, if you are an app developer who wants to sell the app you have created, Flippa allows you to sell apps as well.

What is a web browser extension?

How does a web browser extension work?

The web browser extension will be downloaded to your browser as an add-on. When you open your web browser, the extension will perform a function. For example, Grammarly is a tool that was developed to check spelling and grammar in a document. Grammarly then expanded and developed a web browser extension to check spelling and grammar within any tab that was open in the browser. When the Grammarly web browser extension is downloaded and added to your browser, it will continuously check all spelling and grammar that you are typing within the browser.

How do web browser extensions make money?

Similar to an app, your extension will have to either be a paid extension or have some sort of paid model or purchases within it. The web browser you create the extension for will determine how you can make money. In this example, we are going to use Google Chrome.

Google Chrome allows you to provide web browser extensions to download for free or at a price. The free model means that the web browser extension is free to download, but there may be additional goods, services, or content they can purchase within the extension.

The paid model means that users will have to pay for the web browser extension if they want to add it to their browser.

How much money can you make with web browser extensions?

You will need to require some form of payment with the web browser for it to make money. You will advertise the web browser extension on the web browser store for users to download.

How much you decide to charge is up to you. Naturally, if you offer a free web extension, you will need users to make purchases within the extension if you want to make money.

Web browser extensions can make thousands in days if you have the right tools for the job. Users may not stumble upon your web extension by chance, so you need to come up with a way to reach potential customers.

Designing a call-to-action on your website where users will provide their email addresses will allow you to send out an email blast to promote your web browser extensions. The more people you reach, the more likely you are to convert those leads into customers.

Backlinking can be a great strategy to get more eyes on your extension. Backlinks occur when another website links to your business (in this case, web extension) on their website. Backlinks are a huge tool in SEO, because search engines read backlinks as part of ranking on the search engine results page. This means that if Google is backlinking your website or browser extension on their website, your ranking on search engine results pages immediately goes up.

How many times do you click past page 1 or 2 on the search engine results page? Typically, if the results aren’t in the first two pages, we assume we need to retype our keyword phrase. Your web extension may rank low without a website like Google backlinking to your website and Google Chrome web extension.

Pros:

Low maintenance: Browsers offer a low maintenance model for generating revenue. The initial process of creating an extension can be tedious but once you’re done, it’s much easier.

Massive audience: There is an endless market of potential users as everyone uses some type of web browser.

Niche-targeted: Perfect for businesses that sell or specialize in providing a service-based business.

Cons:

Requires special skills: Requires developer skills and you will have to pay someone to create the extension if you can’t do it yourself.

Difficult to get started: You need a large following in order to maximize income so simply creating an app and putting it on an browser app store isn’t going to lead to instant success.

Who is the web browser extensions model right for?

If you have a large audience and hundreds of new visitors per day on your website or blog, you can capitalize on these numbers by creating a web browser extension they can download. Web browser extensions are ideal for businesses that provide a service.

As we mentioned, Grammarly offers a web browser extension that constantly scans your content and suggests corrections, as necessary. Users are willing to pay for a web browser extension that helps them achieve a goal, such as properly-written content.

7. SAAS

What is SAAS?

SAAS stands for Software as a Service. SAAS is a subscription-based software that users can download directly from the web. SAAS is also known as web-based software because users gain access to the software through the web. SAAS software is commonly used for payroll, messaging, accounting, and many other office services.

How does SAAS work?

Software as a service works by giving users the ability to download the software from a website. The software is hosted online and requires no physical copy, disc, or file to possess. Simply download the software from the web-host and begin.

How do you make money with SAAS?

You will need to incorporate some form of payment with a SAAS. This may be through in-software advertising, sponsored posts, web advertising, in-software purchases, or premium (paid) versions. The method you choose may depend on the type of SAAS you are offering or how big of an audience your software will target.

Regardless, your SAAS will need to create recurring revenue through ads or purchases.

Should you buy a SAAS or create one myself?

Unless you are a skilled software developer or have a team of developers to create the software for you, you should buy a SAAS. Software is always changing and updating, so even if you develop the software yourself, you will need to dedicate time for troubleshooting, support, and updates.

How much money can you make with SAAS?

The downside to SAAS is that it may take a while for your investment to pay for itself. SAAS can be expensive to purchase or develop, and it may be a slow process to make money.

The upside to SAAS is that if you have a product that’s in demand, growth and revenue can occur quickly. Some of the most popular SAAS companies are Microsoft Office 365 (cloud-based), Amazon Web Services, DocuSign, and DropBox. If you create a successful SAAS, people will spread the word and be more likely to download your software.

The most reliable means of income will be through recurring monthly subscriptions. The exact amount of money you will make with SAAS is determined by many factors. The investment to return ratio will be extremely low if the startup cost of the software is high.

It will take a few months, at best, to make your startup cost back. Keep this in mind when considering a SAAS online business model for your online business. The money will come; it just may take a while.

This is where you will need to know a couple of terms and what they mean so that you will know what to expect and how to navigate your way through the process.

Churn Rate – the rate that customers drop off each month.

LTV – lifetime value; the value that the SAAS accrues over time.

CAC – customer acquisition cost; the amount it will cost to acquire new customers

LTV to CAC Ratio – the lifetime value of your business divided by the cost to acquire the customers will give you this ratio; the higher the number, the larger the success

Remember: many factors will go into your total cost, such as development costs, payroll, operations, etc. So if you have a low customer acquisition cost, you can still lose money if you have hefty overhead costs.

Pros:

High Ceiling: SAAS businesses with a great idea behind them can be extremely successful.

ROI: Return on investment can be high if the software is in demand and if you have the team and resources behind you to grow the business.

Customer-friendly: The software can be downloaded directly from a web-host (no physical item to send a customer).

Cons:

High start-up costs: Start-up costs can be expensive due to the skill and effort required to develop the software and maintain it, along with the business.

Resources required: You may need to offer support to customers along with other updates and development efforts.

Requires marketing: Will require marketing, advertising, and word-of-mouth for the greatest success.

Who is the SAAS business model right for?

Businesses that already have a large following and reliable reputation will be highly successful with SAAS. This is why Microsoft Office 365 online, DropBox, and DocuSign are so successful at SAAS. They are reputable companies with a large customer base.

Keep in mind that there will be a period of time when your business hits a hyper-growth stage. You will be obtaining customers quicker than you can plan and it may make you feel like you need to alter the cost of the service you are selling.

We suggest that you don’t make any adjustments during this time, as hyper-growth will typically level out. Once you see business beginning to level out is when you should look at making any adjustments, if necessary.

Where can you buy a SAAS website?

SAAS websites are highly successful, especially if the CAC/LTV ratio is calculated correctly, so you may want to skip the stage of creating a website and get straight to work. You can do this by purchasing readily available SAAS websites from Flippa, Acquisition Station, and BizBuySell. These websites have SAAS sites that are built and ready to use once purchased.

8. Info Products

What are info products and what is the info products online business model?

Info products provide detailed information about a specific product, concept, business idea, or service. As an online business model, info products are designed to bring traffic to your website in order to sell customers something.

How does an info product business make money?

To make money with an info product, you need to provide quality informational material to your audience in order to make them want to keep coming back for more. The possibilities are truly endless when you are selling an info product.

You can set up subscriptions, offer webinars, send weekly newsletters, or provide consultations and support, among many other things.

You decide how much to charge for the product you are selling, as well as the method in which your paying customers will receive their content.

How much money can you make using the info products model?

The low-end of the income spectrum will be what you sell the product for. If you have a low ranking site with minimal traffic, chances are you aren’t making more than 1 or 2 sales a month and are likely still in the red. You will need to create a product that people will not only share, but that will rank on search engine results pages so that your product can be easily found.

When you have a product that users will want to purchase, your info products site can make well over $1,000 a day. Over time, this can turn into thousands, which is the high-end potential and ultimately the number you want to be aiming for (depending on what your profit margins are and what the product is you’re selling).

Who is the info product business model right for?

Anyone who has a website or blog can sell an info product to monetize their website. You decide the product you are selling, and how to sell it.

If you plan to move into the info product model, you will want to make sure you are knowledgeable about the product you are selling. If someone does not believe in the product you are selling, they likely won’t stick around to buy any additional information from you.

For example, if you’re providing a paid webinar to your audience, you’ll need to be an expert on the topic you’re discussing. This is not only important during your webinar, but also when promoting it to your audience. People will only want to tune in if they know that the information being shared is coming from an expert or professional in that industry.

If you have an area that you are passionate about and would like to turn that passion into money, the info product business model is the right one for you.

Pros:

Variety of Options: When it comes to info products, the options to choose from are endless. As long as you’re an expert in that field and have knowledge to share, you can turn that information into a sellable product.

High success rate: Providing an expert-level service/product to your audience is highly successful because people will keep coming back to purchase more.

Low start-up costs: Because info products only require a website and your own knowledge/expertise, the cost to start selling your info product is fairly low-cost and easy to start. As your business grows, you’ll need to scale.

Cons:

Requires creativity: With the vast amount of info products on the market today, you will need an info product that stands apart from the rest.

Relies on traffic: The more followers and traffic you have, the more successful your business will be. This will define your success or failure in this business model.

Where can you buy an info product website?

You can purchase info product websites on platforms likeFlippa, MotionInvest, EmpireFlippers, and FE International. Here, there will be ready-made websites for you to purchase and promote the info product the website has included. However, because this model requires your own knowledge and expertise, creating your own site and developing a business around your info product is your best bet to be successful.

9. Membership Sites

What is a membership site?

In the section above, we described info products as creating a website that focuses on a product and sells information pertaining to that product in a variety of ways.

A membership site follows this same concept; the only difference is the way a customer receives their information, service, and content is through a membership.

A membership site is a business model that makes money by offering specialized content to users through a paid membership.

How does a membership site work?

A membership site works by asking users to sign up and pay for the content or services they will be receiving. Your membership site may offer one plan for everyone, or you may break it up into tiers or categories.

When a new member signs up, they will receive the information, content or service as specified in your membership agreement. This may be immediate access to an online community or social media group, personalized content, 24/7 support, or weekly email updates.

How does a membership site make money?

Membership sites make money by offering users premium or specialized content in return for a paid membership. As we mentioned above, the membership can be a uniform membership plan that fits everyone, or you may want to break it up into tier or categories.

For example, let’s say you are offering a membership site for health and wellness. You may want to have a membership that offers different benefits depending on the membership a user chooses. For example:

How much money can a membership site make?

How much money your membership site makes depends on the type of site you have created, what type of membership you are offering, and how many customers subscribe to the membership each month.

Similar to the info products business model, if you only sell one membership a month, your business will likely remain in the red. You want to ensure your membership site is selling multiple memberships a month, receiving renewals on a consistent basis, and your profit margins are high enough in order to have a profitable online business with this model.

On the low-end of the income spectrum, you may only make $100/month, if that. To maximize your earnings and be profitable, you will need a membership site that will attract visitors and turn potential leads into customers. You can turn leads into customers by gathering email addresses and sending monthly emails reminding users to sign up for your membership site. With a large following, you can easily make thousands each month with a membership site.

Examples of membership sites

Peloton is one of the fastest growing membership sites for fitness and training. Members do not need a Peloton bike or treadmill to participate in a monthly digital membership. The digital membership is $12.99/month and includes live classes, personalized training sessions, and a music playlist.

Peloton has gained over a million members in just a few short years, with most of the attention coming in 2019. One million members at $12.99/month is $12.9 million in memberships alone.

Pros:

Reusable content: Once you create your content or service, you can reuse it and sell it to hundreds if not thousands or people.

Automation potential: After your membership service is created, you can automate everything and watch the sales roll in without much work and minimal maintenance.

Wide variety: Depending on the knowledge or expertise in your industry, the potential for where you take your membership site allows for a lot of variety – health and wellness, cosmetics, web design, online training, etc.

Steady & predictable income: Once you’ve established your niche and built an audience, maintaining your memberships is pretty simple and ensures a stable income on a monthly basis.

Upselling is available: Once people are locked in to your membership, adding some upsell features allows for scale. Ex. “For just $5/more per month, you can receive XZY and have access to ABC”.

Cons:

Renewals: You will need to keep members coming back each month or find ways to recruit new members to keep the income steady.

Creativity: You will need to come up with new, quality content each month for members.

Where to buy membership sites online?

Websites like Buy Website and Flippa offer readily made membership websites that you can purchase and put to use immediately. Otherwise, you can make a website of your own to offer a membership based on a product or expertise you already have in your industry.

10. Productized Service

What is a productized service?

A productized service is when you offer a product that is centralized around providing a service or services. There will be a package of services that are offered as a product with many different elements that go into the productized service.

Some examples of a productized service:

Marketing/SEO services

Writing services

Graphic design services

Consultation/coaching services

Travel services

Website design and maintenance services

Health and Fitness services

How does a productized service work and how does it make money?

A productized service works by providing your audience with a specific list of services that you will perform when they purchase the product package. You provide a list of services that you will perform, your customers purchase the product, and you perform the services.

A productized service makes money when a client purchases the product package. There is no guesswork that goes into what the client will receive and no guesswork for the amount of money you will make. The price is set, the productized service is set, and each side knows exactly what they will receive.

How much money can a productized service make?

This is similar to a membership site in that it depends on how much you are charging for a productized service and how many productized services you sell each month. A prime example of a productized service would be an online fitness instructor.

While personal trainers and fitness instructors may offer one-on-one training or small classes, an online fitness instructor can reach the masses that they may otherwise not be able to reach due to their location or the space available. With a productized service, an online fitness instructor can bundle their services into one product and sell the product to customers all across the globe.

The potential income on the low-end of a productized service will only make $100-$200/month, if that. With an online fitness instructor productized service website, like iBodyFit, you can make thousands each month through various monthly service plans you sell to your customers. Websites like iBodyFit fall on the high-end of potential income for a productized service website.

Pros:

No guesswork: The client receives what they order, and you receive the amount you advertise for the service. It’s as simple as that.

Predictable income: Managing a successful productized service provides income that is steady and predictable to the site owner on a monthly basis with minimal work.

Flexibility: Productized service sites allow you todesign the package of services you want to provide to your customers and change those services as needed based on the demand.

Scale and simplicity: the majority of your clients can receive the same product. For example, if you are offering consultation for a new startup business, you can design the same product for many clients, leaving you with more time and energy to spend on other business ventures

Cons:

Reliant on margins: Make sure the time and resources it takes to put into the productized service are properly assessed when the productized service is sold to a client

Tough competition: With the growing amount of services available today, creating your own productized service can be difficult to do in the current climate. On top of that, building and maintaining your audience requires a lot of effort and SEO management by the site owner.

Who is the productized service business model right for?

If your business is offering a list of services in order to make money, then you should use the productized service business model. The productized service business model means that you will offer a set list of services as one packaged product for a set price.

The best types of businesses that will benefit from a productized service are any of the following:

Website designers

Graphic designers

Accountants

Writers

Coaches/consultants

Travel agents/event planners

Where can you buy a productized service website?

Bizbroker24, Flippa, and BuyWebsite are just a few of the websites you can search and find productized service websites to purchase and get started immediately.

11. Coaching and Consulting

What is online coaching and consulting?

Coaching and consulting is an online business model that helps a client achieve a particular goal they have created. While coaching and consulting are similar, they have specific definitions that distinguish them from one another, and we feel they are worth defining.

An online coach is someone who helps push a client to reach his or her goals. They will provide them with tips and tricks to help them achieve a goal, but they don’t pave the way for the client. An online coach puts the client in the driver’s seat and gives them most of the responsibility in achieving their goal.

An online consultant will give their client the exact tools they will need to achieve their goal. The consultant knows that they are only successful if their clients are successful, so they make sure their clients are equipped with everything they need to achieve their goal.

How do online coaching and consulting business models work?

Online coaching and consulting works by providing a client with certain resources to help them reach a goal. Online coaching and consulting businesses will be specific to a niche or market so that the client knows which coach or consultant to choose for the goal they have set.

How do online coaching and consulting businesses make money?

You will need to charge your clients for the services you are providing. This is rule #1 for making money as a coach or consultant.

Here are some tips for maximizing your business as an online coach or consultant:

1.Be positive: Clients do not want a coach or consultant who does not make them feel excited about the goals they have in mind.

2.Be personable: Make your clients feel welcome and that you are easy to talk to about any concern or question they may have about their goals.

3.Be an expert: A client will not recommend you to friends (and also will be unlikely to continue working with you) if you don’t know what you’re talking about. To be the best coach or consultant, you need to be an expert in the field you are coaching and consulting.

How much money can a coaching and consultant business make?

Ultimately, how much you charge is up to you, but there is a range of income that coaches and consultants make. On the low end, coaches and consultants make around $10/hour. With only a few clients, this means you may make only a few hundred each month.

On the flip side, the high end of the income spectrum coaches and consultants can make around $100/hour. This means that you can easily make $100,000 per year with the right amount of clients and pricing schedule.

Where can you buy an online coaching or consulting website?

The best website to buy online coaching and consulting sites is Flippa. The websites available for you to choose from include healthy living consulting/coaching, Amazon consulting, ecommerce and monetization consulting, and drop shipping consulting.

Pros:

Create your own schedule: You are in charge of your schedule, the content you create, and when to send the client their content.

Anyone can do it: An online consulting business is easy to start, maintain, and manage as long as you have a site and a plan.

Client growth leads to revenue: Money can be steady with a constant stream of clients and revenue on a monthly basis because most consulting models are based on a monthly subscription.

Use social networks to grow: Online consultants rely on client revenue so growing their popularity through social media and network marketing will help increase your clientele and revenue on a monthly basis.

Cons:

No clients = no income: Consulting models are 100% reliant on building your client base and growing client revenue. If you aren’t able to create an offering for your consulting business, clients won’t purchase the product and you won’t make any money.

Resources are required: Depending on your niche, your business may require webchats, webinars, and/or phone calls with clients as well as be highly dependent on lead generation.

Who is best suited to have an online coaching or consulting business?

If you are an expert in an area with services to offer that others cannot, then being an online coach or consultant is right for you.

The best online coach or consultant is highly motivated and knowledgeable in the area they are offering help. They will be able to offer services that will help clients achieve goals quickly and efficiently.

All you need to get started is knowledge, motivation, and a website to promote your business.

12. Influencer (YouTube, Instagram, or Podcast)

What is an influencer?

An influencer, also referred to as a social media influencer, is someone with a large presence or following online who influences someone to purchase a product or service (hence the name influencer.) Influencers can be public figures, celebrities, athletes, bloggers, authors, fashionistas, or other content marketing creators.

What does it mean to be an influencer or work with an influencer?

Being an influencer means that you post products on your social media site that you endorse. It may be a brand of clothing, a dietary supplement, a cosmetics brand, a skin product, or any other service or product that is looking to grow their brand via social media marketing.

Generally, influencers value and importance is determined by their content, engagement and the amount of followers they have. Mega influencers have over 1 million followers and are considered your “A-list” influencers. These influencers will make the most money.

Macro influencers have between 100,000 and 1 million followers.

Micro-influencers have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers.

Nano influencers have less than 1,000 followers and are considered typical everyday people on social media.

Why is this important?

An influencer’s value is determined by their following, so as an influencer, you need to know where you rank on the list. Alternatively, as someone who will work with an influencer, you need to know what type of influencer you are looking to work with.

How to make money from influencing (and how much money can you make)?

If you are an influencer yourself, you can charge pretty steep amounts depending on your following.

Mega influencers charge nearly $200,000 for a YouTube video, around $75,000 for an Instagram post, and around $30,000 for a Twitter post

Macro and micro-influencers charge around $2,500 for a YouTube video, $1,000 for an Instagram post, and around $400 for a Twitter post

Nano influencers typically negotiate their rates between the company asking for the promotion and themselves

If you are going to use an influencer to promote your business, you will likely see your business gain followers, impressions, and a boost in sales.

One thing that is important to keep in mind when choosing an influencer to promote your business is that micro-influencers have a following of real people who are genuinely interested in their content. Therefore, page clicks and sales are likely to be higher than if you use a macro or mega influencer for your post. While the number of followers is lower with micro-influencers, their followers are real people who are interested in the content that the influencer shares.

Pros:

Easy marketing for businesses: Influencers are able to create quality and unique material for businesses to share to their social media platforms

Low start-up costs: As an influencer, all you need is a YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or other social media account with followers to become an influencer. These are all free programs, so there are no upfront costs to get started

Popularity = revenue: As an influencer, the more products you promote, the more you will be recognized, and others may seek your services

Cons:

Judgemental business: As an influencer, followers may feel you are “hawking” a product just for money.

Know your morals: As an influencer there may be times that you are asked to promote a product you don’t believe in so knowing what your morals are and where your expertise is in the industry is important.

Vetting process: As a business, you may have to vet your influencer to make sure there are no controversial issues in the social media community.

Who is the influencer business model right for?

If you are a figure on social media who has thousands of followers, you should be an influencer. You can create material that can be shared on podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms of social media.

Another consideration of this business model is if you have a product that you want someone reputable to promote, you can hire an influencer to advertise the product and bring traffic to your website.

Otherwise, you can create an influencer agency website for both influencers and brands to use your website to link up with one another. You can list influencers for brands to choose from, as well as list brands for influencers to choose from.

There are many options that the influencer business model has to offer. Think about where you fall in the influencer market; are you an influencer yourself, do you have a product you want an influencer to promote, or do you want to have an influencer agency website that will provide the link between the two? There are different options you can choose from with the influencer business model.

13. Dropshipping

What is dropshipping?

Let’s say you have an online shoe store where you sell hundreds of shoes for consumers to purchase. Instead of keeping all of this inventory at your house to package and ship to a consumer every time a purchase is made, you use a third-party that has the product and ships it to your customers when you tell them to.

This is dropshipping.

You sell a product that you don’t physically have by purchasing the product from a third-party and sending it directly to the customer who bought it from you.

How does dropshipping make money?

First of all, you are already in the green with drop shipping because you haven’t spent any money on inventory or paid any storage costs for holding the inventory. But we’re not here to tell you how to save money, we’re here to tell you how to make money.

Making money with drop shipping is an easy process, but you may have to finagle your way through some stipulations.

First, you will need to make sure you mark-up the product you are selling so that you make money. If your third-party vendor is selling a pair of shoes for $50, you will have to charge more than $50 to make a profit. On the flip side, an online customer is likely going to shop around before making a purchase, so they may find your vendor and order directly from them.

This is where you may need to find a wholesale distributor to provide a product at wholesale costs, but be careful – wholesale distributors often require a federal employer identification number to prove that you are a business and not an individual. Therefore, you may need to apply for a business license in your jurisdiction to be able to purchase goods.

How much money can a dropshipping site make?

The low-end of income potential may mean you only make $1,000 a month. But the cost, time, and energy to set up your drop shipping website is relatively low, so this is a realistic number you can expect to make in the beginning.

The middle ground of drop shipping income falls around $10,000 per month. With this kind of income, you’ll have likely had to hire additional employees to help with your business to keep up with the demand.

The highest income potential will be $100,000 per month, but this will require a lot more work. You will have to hire many employees to help run your business and manage the finances and day-to-day operations of drop shipping.

Pros:

Low startup costs: Once you’ve found a wholesaler and product to sell, drop shipping only requires a website and some SEO work to drive traffic to your product.

High opportunity: The variety and amount of products you can sell are endless. Just make sure to do your research and find the right wholesalers before getting started.

Easy concept and operation: Most of the work is done on the wholesalers end. All you need to do is make sure traffic is being driven to your site and the demand stays high.

Can be done remotely: The beauty of online businesses means that you can create and build your drop shipping business from almost anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

Cons:

FEI requirement: May require a Federal Employer Identification number and/or business license in order to work with a wholesaler.

Price management: Products will need to be marked up in order to create a successful and profitable online business model.

Scaling can be expensive: As your drop shipping business grows, so will your employees and operations costs.

Example of a dropshipping site

One of the most popular drop shipping sites is Amazon. Amazon allows users to buy items from third-party vendors that are not fulfilled by Amazon or Amazon Services. Essentially, Amazon will list the item for sale, but they do not hold the item in their fulfillment center, nor do they ship the item. They fill the order and submit the order to the third-party site for fulfillment and shipping.

14. Ecommerce

What is ecommerce?

Have you ever purchased something online from an online retailer? That is ecommerce.

ecommerce is selling a product or good that you physically keep in a warehouse that you have set up. ecommerce is similar to drop shipping, with the main difference being in the ownership of the product before it is sold. With ecommerce, you are the owner of the item, product, or inventory before you sell it to a buyer, whereas drop shipping uses a third-party vendor to hold the item and ship it when an order is placed.

How does ecommerce make money?

ecommerce makes money like any other brick-and-mortar retailer. The only difference is the buying and selling are done online rather than in person or at a store. This means you are responsible for finding the product, buying the product, holding the product, marking up the product to be profitable, selling the product, and shipping the product.

In all of these elements, you make your money in the profit margin, so you need to remember to mark up the price of the product to make it larger than the cost you paid.

Who is ecommerce right for?

Anyone who wants to sell a product online can create an ecommerce website. You will need to be organized and understand purchasing inventory, markups, and have a way to ship the items to your customers.

Where can you buy ecommerce websites?

The good news is that out of all the websites there are to purchase, ecommerce may be the leader of the pack. Websites like Flippa, FE International, BuyWebsite, and BizBroker24 all have many ecommerce websites to purchase that are ready to go.

Pros:

High demand: Online shopping has become one of the fastest growing models in today’s society, making ecommerce a very popular platform for online business owners.

Online alternative: An ecommerce business allows you to sell your products with lower costs than starting a physical retail store and gives your customers 24/7 availability to shop online anytime from anywhere.

Become a brand: ecommerce platforms allow you to build a all-around business model, including products, branding, messaging, etc. While this sounds like a lot of work to some, creating your own brand is attractive to many.

Cons:

Very tough competition: You are a little fish in a big pond with many well-established competitors so establishing yourself in this industry can be very tough.

15. Amazon FBA

What is Amazon FBA?

Amazon FBA stands for Amazon Fulfillment by Amazon. This means that you are the seller, and Amazon is who holds the item and fulfills the order when it is placed.

Things to know:

1. You purchase a product from a factory/supplier

2. The product ships to an Amazon Fulfillment Center

3. You are the seller of the product and Amazon takes care of the rest

How does Amazon FBA make money in terms of being a business model?

Simple. As long as the product is in stock at an Amazon Fulfillment Center, the buyer purchases the product, and you get the profit. Amazon is simply there to fulfill the order and make sure it is shipped to the customer.

How much money does the Amazon FBA business model make?

The low-end of the income potential spectrum will likely only make you about $1,000 month. The middle ground offers a little more per month at around $3,000 per month. The high-end of the income potential spectrum will pay between $8,000 and $10,000 per month.

Pros:

Amazon is reliable: As arguably the top ecommerce platform in the world, Amazon is always going to provide results and help when you need it.

Easy set-up: Amazon provides you all the tools and information you need to get started once you have an idea and your site set up.

Double up: Amazon FBA can be combined with the Amazon Affiliate program to double your exposure and revenue.

Cons:

Expertise required: Requires knowledge of finding a product and entering into an agreement to ship and store at an Amazon Fulfillment Center

Competitive market: You will need to find a product that sets yours apart from the rest as the Amazon FBA niche has become a lot more competitive in recent years.

Who is the Amazon FBA business model best for?

Our opinion is that if you are an Amazon Affiliate or have linked up with an Amazon Affiliate, you can get more exposure, more traffic, and more interest in the product you are selling.

16. Kindle Publishing Business

What is the Kindle publishing business model?

You write a book that is uploaded on Amazon Kindle, and you get paid.

Well, it’s a little more detailed than that, but you catch our drift. To be successful at Kindle Publishing, you will need to write a book, make the book appealing, and submit the book to Kindle to publish. You will earn money when the book is downloaded, but we will break that down below.

How does the Kindle publishing business model work?

First, you will need to write a book. Once the book is complete, you will need to create a visually-appealing cover for the book. Something that will catch a reader’s eye and intrigue them to read your book.

Next, you will upload the book to the Kindle Publishing Business platform for approval. Approval usually takes up to 48 hours. Once approved, Kindle will release the book to be published on Amazon for immediate download. When the user buys your book, they will receive a digital copy to download directly onto their device.

How does the Kindle publishing business model make money?

This is where a thing called royalties come in. Every time your book is purchased, Amazon takes a portion of the earnings and gives you the rest as royalties. Royalties are a designated sum of money that is paid to an author, composer, or performer of a work of art when their piece is sold.

With the Kindle Publishing Business model, the royalty fee is applied in one of two ways:

1. You can earn 70% royalties if your book is purchased in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and India.

2. Otherwise, you earn the standard 35% royalties.

The only stipulation you need to know about 70% royalties is that your book must cost $9.99 or less to qualify.

How much money can I expect to make from Kindle publishing?

Once you have begun publishing books through Kindle Publishing, you can expect to make anywhere between $1,000 to $10,000. This is the low-end potential for income.

On the higher end, authors can make tens of thousands each month, with a year-end income into the millions. This will likely require multiple books to be published and it is common to see a spike in revenue when a new book is released. Keep the books coming, and you can easily become a well-known author on Amazon.

Who is the Kindle publishing business model right for?

The obvious answer is writers. If you enjoy writing in any capacity, you can publish a book using Kindle Publishing Business and automatically receive 35% royalties whenever the book is purchased and downloaded.

Pros:

Free to use: Unlike many of the other business models, getting set up on Kindle publishing is free and a lot of the initial start-up tasks are done for you.

Generous royalty schedule: Kindle is trustworthy and offers a very fair and generous royalty schedule to all its publishers, making it easier for you to publish your content.

Multiple platforms: Available to users who use smartphones, tablets, Kindles, and e-readers giving publishers the opportunity to expand to multiple platforms.

No website required: Do not need a website; just upload and go!

Cons:

Competitive: With digital e-readers becoming more and more popular, the demand is growing but so is the competition, so you’ll need to make sure you have a great concept before choosing this model.

My name is Jon Gillham I am a 33 year old, husband, father of 3 (all aged 4 and under), engineer and huge geek when it to comes to systematizing and outsourcing any business. With over 10 years in the online publisher/advertising space I try to provide my thoughts with the hope it helps people build their own business! More About Me